Marketing Ideas

New Direct Mail Program Means Direct Savings

» Presentation Handout (PDF)
» USPS Presentation (PDF)

Earlier this year, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) to make direct mail to consumers more cost effective. Perry Whitaker, a member of PPI’s sales team, along with Marc Williams and Fred Sparks of the U.S. Postal Service, recently presented the  program to a group of Tupelo’s business owners.

Statistics show that a majority of Americans prefer to “read print and paper communications rather than reading off a screen” and over half of all direct mail gets opened. Direct mail offers unique opportunities to reach specific consumers with offers including coupons and interactive QR codes. It continues to serve as an important aspect of many advertising campaigns.

While many businesses create mailing lists from their customer list or buy targeted mailing lists, EDDM offers a cost effective way to saturate specific geographic areas with larger than normal mail pieces. All pieces that fit the requirements of EDDM are mailed at 14.5 cents per piece.

Requirements

  • EDDM pieces must be rectangular with four square corners.
  • Each piece must have the Indicia in the stamp area (link to picture)
  • Each piece should be addressed “Postal Customer”, City, State, 5 digit postal code
  • Minimum mailing of 200 pieces and maximum of 5,000 pieces per zip code per day
  • Pieces must be delivered to the post office servicing the targeted routes
  • Pieces must be bundled into groups of 50, 100 or 150 with facing slip on each bundle

Dimensions

  • From 10 ½ inches to 15 inches long
  • From 6 1/8 inches to 12 inches high
  • From ¼ inches to ¾ inches thick

To create a mailing, business owners can work with a local printer familiar with EDDM to create a mail piece specific to their business needs. The printer will help them to select the routes they want to cover, print the piece with the required Indicia, bundle the piece with the
appropriate facing slip and deliver to the correct post office for delivery.

For businesses who want to try mailing a few hundred pieces on their own, Williams suggested they go to www.usps.com/eddm and sign up for the business gateway. Through this website, businesses will have access to maps of the routes in specific areas and the exact number of
mail boxes covered through those routes. Businesses can select an address in the area they want to cover such as a specific area of town or within a few miles their own business. They will see the number of households and routes covering those areas. Mailings must be sent to every address within a route. Any addresses that should not be mailed should be listed on the “facing slip”.

Once a business has created the mail piece and chosen their routes, they should contact their post office or Williams for the required Indicia. Through the EDDM website, businesses can also access forms like PS3587 and the “facing slip“ which must be included in all mailings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a minimum number of mailings?

Yes. EDDM pieces must cover at least 200 mailboxes. However, the pieces must be mailed to every home within a route and all of the Tupelo routes have more than 200 mailboxes.

The bundling and delivering to different post offices sounds like a lot of work. Isn’t that time consuming?

Yes, it can be which is why the U.S. Postal Service recommends using a local printer familiar with EDDM to make the work less on businesses. The postal service offers great rates on EDDM mailings because the businesses do most of the work.

If you want to send your pieces regionally instead of just locally, how does that work?

You chose your routes in the cities you want to target. Then create your mailings just like you did for the local mailings including the facing slips and a check for the postage. Place all your materials and postage payment in a priority mail box and ship to the post office that will deliver
the mail.

How do I make sure my local pieces and out of town pieces are mailed at the same time?

All EDDM pieces will be mailed the day after they are received. Calculate how long it will take a box shipped to an out of town post office to arrive. Take your local mailing to the appropriate post office on the same day the out of town pieces will arrive in their post offices.

What happens to undeliverables?

Because EDDM tells you exactly how many people are in a route, you’ll only send the exact number needed for each household. So every piece you send will be delivered.

Can a mailing target businesses only and not residential customers?

No. At this time, EDDM allows you to target residential customers only or residential and business customers. You can look in areas with high business concentration and see what routes cover primarily businesses and choose those routes for your mailing but they will still hit the
residential addresses. EDDM is geared primarily toward business-to-consumer marketing.